At this time, the best sources of energy and stored energy are fossil fuels, coal, gas, oil and nuclear. These contain high levels of energy that can be released for human use. However, these energy sources come with significant environmental and economic risks. Therefore, alternative energy is an important field of work, and many forms of alternative energy are in use today. Examples of technologies in relatively widespread use are onshore wind, offshore wind, conventional turbine, combined cycle turbine, geothermal, solar PV, hydroelectric, solar thermal, CSP, biomass, biofuel, nuclear, and coal. However, these forms of energy also have major drawbacks. For example, wind turbines can collect renewable energy, but birds and bats are known to collide with the turbines. Another example is corn used to make ethanol for fuel. While this is a renewable energy source, much of the plant is wasted in the process, and thousands of acres of fertile farmland are dedicated to growth of corn for fuel instead of food. Additionally, the energy harvested from renewable sources often cannot be stored; it must immediately be transferred to the grid. And while current scientific advancements, such as storage of solar energy in flow batteries, hydrogen, or molten salt, are making it more likely that renewable sources may be storable, these advances are slow and will not be viable commercial options for years to come.
Another problem associated with many types of renewable energy is access to the power grid. Dispersed energy production, such as with fuel cell, solar, and wind technologies, has limitations with respect to the grid because the energy produced is not maximized at one site or locality and is thus not immediately available to the grid. Instead, energy produced is local and fragmented. These problems do not exist for sources of energy such as oil, coal, gas, nuclear, and hydroelectric because the energy is produced at one locality, a power plant. However, one major drawback is that these energy sources may not be renewable and pose great environmental challenges. Therefore, a source of safe, renewable and environmentally-friendly energy is needed that is energy rich, can be produced at one locality, and can be made available as it is needed.